


she loves him still.

by avatraang



Series: to transcend lifetimes. [5]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Deal With It, F/F, F/M, Hakoda (Mentioned) - Freeform, Iroh (Mentioned) - Freeform, Mai (mentioned) - Freeform, Suki is gay, aang (mentioned) - Freeform, and happy, and married, i'm not even gonna cap, other than that though this is SUPER sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27178990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avatraang/pseuds/avatraang
Summary: Legend says the world was thrown into turmoil that morning. The elements trembled. People as far away as Harbor Town claim to have felt the earth quake, and those at sea as distant as the coast of Akahime swear to the Spirits that a tsunami threatened to devastate their lands. Any flames within a twenty-mile radius reportedly shot up, burning holes into ceilings and ruining breakfasts. Lamps are said to have burst and shattered. Air acolytes claim a breeze swept through the compounds, so strong it cut down a tree that had stood on the island for over a hundred years. Of course, this is all legend. Speculation. Gossip.[The death of an old friend, as told through the eyes of the Kyoshi Warrior who fought alongside him. Canonical Character death. Tokka. Oneshot.]
Relationships: Toph Beifong/Sokka
Series: to transcend lifetimes. [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/964344
Comments: 20
Kudos: 59





	she loves him still.

**Author's Note:**

> My martial arts teacher always used to tell me thumbs are good for breaking (points to you if you can guess why). I had the opportunity to slip that into this fic, so I did. That’s probably the only happy part of this fic. Other than that, welcome to Angst Hour, as told from Suki’s pov. I wrote this super sleep deprived at past midnight, so like. Sorry:( 
> 
> I got the two quotes used in this fic super stuck in my head. Like, insanely stuck. Before I knew it, I started writing and this was the result. Yes, I shamelessly plugged them into this fic. No, I’m not sorry lmao. 
> 
> Listen to any sad song for feels, but listen to “Without You” by forKING&COUNTRY for ALL the feels. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy this angst show.

> “ _and he loved her the whole way.  
> _ _I am told – and I believe – that he loves her still.”_

_Jamie, **The Haunting of Bly Manor.**_

* * *

This is how it goes:

The world is thrown into turmoil the morning he dies. The elements tremble. People as far away as Harbor Town claim to have felt the earth quake, and those at sea as distant as the coast of Akahime swear to the Spirits that a tsunami threatened to devastate their lands. Any flames within a twenty-mile radius reportedly shot up, burning holes into ceilings and ruining breakfasts. Lamps are said to have burst and shattered. Air acolytes claim a breeze swept through the compounds, so strong it cut down a tree that had stood on the island for over a hundred years.

Of course, this is all legend. Speculation. Gossip. Harbor Town is notorious for earthquakes – just because one was stronger than usual that day, and could be felt in Republic City, did not mean anything. Strong waves are not unusual during that time of year; it had been hurricane season, and both Akahime and Republic City had already suffered strong tropical storms. Electricity is still a new concept – a few households having their wiring destroyed isn’t unheard of. The tree that was cut down was unspeakably old; anyone could have looked at it wrong, and it would have fallen over.

This is what Lin tells the press, later, when asked if she and her family had been responsible for the sheer havoc the elements had been sent into. After all, few families are capable of such destruction. Her family _is_ the strongest contender. “Just a coincidence,” Lin says, blinking through the flash of cameras. “My family and friends would never let their grief overwhelm them this way, even for someone as dear to our hearts as Chief Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe.”

To Lin’s credit, there is in fact a coincidence. If one were to look closely, they would see these patterns repeated throughout history. When Avatar Aang had died, there were reports of similar occurrences. Going further back, to the demise of Chief Hakoda, one could see the same pattern. Preceding that, the death if Firelady Mai; the Fire Sages are said to still speak of the unnatural manner in which the elements composed themselves that night. Backwards still, to General Iroh’s quiet passing, there are those who will claim events akin to those that happened the morning of Chief Sokka’s death. None of the cases before were reportedly quite as strong as Sokka’s, but his death _was_ much more sudden than the others. Less time to get the grief of powerful benders in check. _If_ it really was them.

 _If,_ indeed. Though admittedly a strange coincidence, who’s to say it is anything more? The evidence is documentary at best, testimonial at worst. Nothing that would hold up in court.

Suki sees the look on Lin’s face as she steps off the podium, face blank as she walks with her, back towards the boat that would take them to Air Temple Island. “You did well.” Suki pats her shoulder. Lin is a head taller than her, imposing and strong. Yet when she looks at Suki, the child in her is visible. It breaks her heart.

“I learned from the best.” Lin motions for Suki to board the boat first. Tenzin had offered to give them a ride, but Lin had ignored him. Suki isn’t sure why she came, but she’s glad she did.

As the boat hurries along towards Air Temple Island, Suki gives Lin a closed-lipped smile. “He was always so proud of you.” The sun is setting. It stains the sky, breathtakingly beautiful.

There’s a bittersweet note to her voice when Lin responds. It seeps through like rain does in an ill-built house. “I know.” She says. “That’s why this is so hard.”

And, well. What can Suki say to that?

* * *

**_forty-eight hours earlier._ **

Suki is the last to arrive. It’s dusk when she gets there. Her steps are hurried as she’s let off the boat. Agile in her old age, she practically sprints to the house, not bothering to knock as she lets herself in. It’s quiet, she realizes. _Too_ quiet. There’s a lone air acolyte in the kitchen, boiling what Suki assumes is tea. The woman glances up at Suki and recognizes her in an instant. Even without face paint, Suki’s face is identifiable. She’s a history subject, after all. “They’re all the way down the hall and to your left.” There’s a sympathetic look in her eyes. “I would hurry, Master Suki.”

Without a word, she continues her mission, not stopping until she’s opened the door and stepped into the room. Katara is tending to her brother with a commendable fierceness. Kya is at her side, a determination on her features that Suki knows stems from the severest type of worry. Zuko, Tenzin and Suyin stand in one corner of the room, Zuko looking unabashedly distressed, and Lin and Tenzin with twin looks of terror painted onto their faces. Suyin is a surprise – last Suki heard, she was estranged from the rest of the Beifong family. A man Suki knows to be Suyin’s husband is gripping her hand like he is her lifeline. Suki supposes he is exactly that. Taking the surprise in stride, she looks to her right and finds an even greater shock. There stands Bumi, still clad in his uniform, looking for all the world like no military training had prepared him for a moment like this. Lin is to his left, rigid and unmoving. Izumi has her arm hooked through Lin’s, a quiet show of support. To her left, sits Ty Lee and Toph. Ty Lee’s got that look she gets when the aura in a room isn’t very bright. As for Toph, her face is blank, features smooth and expressionless. Her, Suyin, and Lin, all in the same room, had been what had shocked her.

It is Izumi that notices Suki first. “Suki.” She unloops her arm from Lin’s and ushers Suki into the room, shutting the door behind her. “Sit.”

Suki lets Izumi lead her to a chair, but doesn’t sit down. “How is he? And how is the Avatar?”

“Her name is Korra.” Tenzin supplies, from across the room. “She’s fine, she got to the compound safely.” His eyes drift over to his uncle. Tenzin doesn’t say anything about his status.

Bumi’s military training _has_ made him adept at delivering bad news. Suki knows what he’s going to say before he even says it. She’s a warrior, too, and a retired leader of soldiers at that. She sees the way he draws himself up, putting on a persona far removed from himself, and her shoulders slump in defeat before he’s uttered a single sentence. “They got him here as quickly as they could, but even on the fastest ship it’s a week’s journey, and even with the best healers in the south stabilizing him, the trip was still rough...”

“If they’d flown him like they were _meant_ to, things might be less dire.” Zuko’s voice is rough. He sounds less like the peaceful man Suki knows he’s become, and more like the sixteen-year-old who burned down her village. Suki is surprised he beat her here. He must’ve really hauled ass.

“Come now, Zuko.” Ty Lee chides, “They did their best.”

“Obviously they didn’t.” Lin’s voice is sharp, “Or he wouldn’t be unconscious right now.”

“He’s not _unconscious.”_ Katara startles the room into silence. Her presence, quieted before due to her focus on her work, suddenly fills the room. Suki knows Katara can demand attention when she wants and right now, it’s exactly what she wants. She’s overwhelming, her sheer existence captivating. “He’s awake, and if you’re annoying _me,_ then I know you’re annoying him. Be quiet or leave. I allowed you to stay for support, not for annoyance.”

The group looks away in shame. Suki takes a seat next to Toph, who’s been uncharacteristically quiet. As if sensing Suki’s incoming question, Toph speaks. “How’s your wife?”

Even twenty years later, Suki still finds herself involuntarily smiling at mention of Quinn. “She’s okay, thank you.” She almost asks how Toph is doing, but at the last moment bites her tongue. What a silly question to ask someone, when the love of their life is dying in front of them.

It’s a little known fact, held in the hearts of only a handful. Suki, Katara, and Zuko. For the longest, even Sokka and Toph themselves were unaware. A love so strong they rarely spoke of it. A love so strong that even now, it has moved Toph to silence. Suki reasons that perhaps if Toph loved Sokka less, she might talk about it more. Thirty years ago, such knowledge might have made Suki jealous. Now, it just makes her sad. She thinks of her wife and looks at Toph in understanding.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Toph breaks Suki’s train of thought. Her voice is so low Suki can barely hear her. “He’ll be fine.” _We’ll be fine._

Suki doesn’t say anything. Instead, she grips Toph’s hand and refuses to let go, even when Toph tenses under her. Slowly, her friend relaxes, until she’s squeezing back. Suki doesn’t know how much time passes, but eventually, a long and loud breath fills the room. Snapping her head up, she sees Sokka’s eye (for only one is visible) is open, scanning the room as if getting ready to defend it. Though he’s aged, his visible eye look as vibrant as they did when she’d first met him. An impossibly long time ago, now. Two worlds away.

“Well,” Sokka’s voice is unrecognizable. It grates against Suki’s ears and she can barely look at him. Half of his head is bandaged. His nose is broken, his lips swollen like balloons from being beaten. Suki hadn’t seen his face before; he’d been laying down and Kya had been hovering over it. Now she understands why. “Aren’t you all a sight for sore eyes. Is this what it takes to get the gang back together?” Sokka gathers himself. “All we’re missing is Aang. Can’t believe he had the guts to die before us. What a bastard.” His tone is full of affection. Belatedly, he glances at Kya, “Er, sorry, kids.”

It startles a laugh out of everyone, Katara pausing in her work long enough to send her brother a warning look. But even she’s got a watery smile on her face. Through heavy tears, she whispers something to Sokka that makes him pause, not out of sorrow, but out of what Suki knows to be resignation. He says something back, except between the quiet whispers and heavy breaths in the room, all Suki catches is “my girls” and “it’s okay.” Kya’s hands still, the glowing water fading. Her tears run freely, fingers trembling as she leans away from her uncle in defeat.

Katara gets to her feet with some help from Tenzin, steeling herself as she looks around the room. “Everyone out. You’ll get your chance with him.” _Hopefully._

Suki watches the kids steal glances at their uncle as they heed Katara’s orders. Soon, the only ones left are the original members of Team Avatar, minus the Avatar. “Don’t look at me like that.” Sokka doesn’t attempt to sit up. Drawing closer, Suki can see that his entire body is bandaged, save for one area that Katara is beginning to stitch together. It’s just to the right of his heart, a gaping hole that even Suki is hard-pressed to look at. How he’s still alive, Suki doesn’t know. Perhaps the Spirits finally gave Sokka enough luck to at least say goodbye.

“I’m not looking at you like anything.” Toph quips.

Sokka rolls his good eye. Suki wonders if he even _has_ another eye. “Smartass.” Sokka blinks. “I feel like Zuko. Seeing with one eye _sucks.”_ Zuko huffs. Sokka falls quiet for a long time, and then he says, quite suddenly, “Don’t look at me like I’m dying.”

“For fuck’s sake.” Zuko’s robes ripple as he falls to Katara’s side, his good eye wide in rage. “You better not die before me. I’ll kill you.”

Ty Lee lets out a cold laugh, “I’d pay to see that.”

Toph smiles wryly – agreement.

“I have a few hours at _best.”_ With great effort, Sokka lets out a shuddering breath. “Spirits know I’m on borrowed time. After what happened, I shouldn’t be alive at _all._ I’d like to say my goodbyes as dramatically as possible.”

“One on one?” Suki guesses.

Sokka spreads his busted lips into a grin. Suki’s disappointed to see that his right canine is missing. “Of course.” Ty Lee’s the first to heed Sokka’s request. She heads for the door and opens it, Zuko and Suki close behind. “Send me Izumi first.”

When Suki leaves, Katara and Toph make no move to follow. She doesn’t see them emerge until Izumi’s stepped foot into the room. When they do, they’re leaning against each other. As if they’re the only one stopping the other from flying away. It’s something out of a fever dream – in all her years of knowing them, Suki’s never seen two of the most powerful benders look so small. Even legions of the Fire Nation’s army didn’t have them looking so… helpless.

Suki supposes that such is life, but she also can’t help think that such life is bitterly unfair.

  
  


“How can you play Pai Sho while Uncle Sokka’s _dying?”_ Tenzin’s voice is full of disgust, watching Bumi and Suyin go at it.

Suyin’s head snaps towards Tenzin, eyes so sharp it wouldn’t surprise Suki if she looked at metal and it bent. Suki marvels at how Suyin looks just like her father. If it weren’t for the Earth Kingdom green of her eyes and the Beifong nose, she’d be Water Tribe through and through. Just as Suyin opens her mouth to speak, Ty Lee emerges from Sokka’s room. “Tenzin.” She says, “Go.” If her cheeks are wet, nobody says a word. Suki watches Tenzin leave, and as Suyin and Bumi continue on with their game, Bataar gives each of them some water.

Ty Lee takes a seat on the couch next to Suki, wordlessly leaning her head against her shoulder. “This is worse than Aang.”

“We saw Aang coming.” Suki reasons, sipping her tea. “Sokka is… a surprise.”

They must sit there for a long time, because before Suki knows it, Bumi is in front of her, gently prodding her to go visit his uncle. Wordlessly, Suki leaves Ty Lee’s side and wanders away from the living room, down the hall. Katara and Toph are sitting in chairs across from the hallway, Toph presumably sensing for Sokka’s heartbeat while Katara waits for the first word of trouble. Suki doesn’t say anything to either of the women. Sometimes the best greeting is one of silence.

Cracking the door open, she finds Sokka staring dreamily at the ceiling. “Old friend.” Sokka smiles at her, “And one of my best.”

“Do you _have_ to be so dramatic?” Without preamble, Suki closes the door and gingerly wraps her arms around Sokka. After the war, he’d shot up a few inches and become one of the biggest men she knew. Even in his old age, this hasn’t changed. His muscles, though tired and torn, give a clear picture of how powerful he was in their youth. “Sokka. What happened?”

Sokka’s eye glosses over. “I did what I had to do.”

“You couldn’t do it safely?”

“It wasn’t my job to be safe.” Sokka coughs. “My job was to keep _Korra_ safe. I got the job done.”

Suki, for all her compassion, finds herself feeling a little outraged. “And now look at us. Your family, torn apart.”

“Heh.” Sokka’s breaths are shudders, “That was bound to happen regardless of whether my death was peaceful or not. I’m the glue of this group, you know that, Suki. But glue doesn’t-” He coughs, loud and relentless, “-It doesn’t hold forever.”

She sits down next to him, properly. Her hand grips his, and she’s alarmed to find his thumb is missing. “I always told you to tuck your thumbs in when fighting.”

“ _Thumbs are only good for breaking.”_ Sokka recalls, trying for a laugh. “I remember. But it’s an old habit, and it finally cost me. Sorry.” Sokka closes his eye, shivering from what Suki knows is not the cold. In the dim lights of the room, Suki can almost imagine him sixty years ago. “Listen, Suki. There’s a lot I could say, but you’ve known me a lifetime. You know all there is to say.”

Suki squeezes a little harder. She finds that he doesn’t squeeze back, and doesn’t stop to wonder whether it’s because he can’t or because he doesn’t want to. “I do.”

He’s quiet for a moment. “Thank you. Thank you, for helping to give me a life that makes saying goodbye so difficult.”

In that moment, Suki understands. She understands that it isn’t the Spirits who are holding Sokka here, but all of _them._ Their inability to let go, to face the proverbial music. Aang had never had this issue. His death was slow and it was painful, and towards the end they all wanted him to pass on for his sake. But Sokka’s so sudden that they still dare to hope. He’s stuck in an agonizing, torturous limbo, and it’s their fault. Suki feels an overwhelming amount of shame. “Thank you,” she says, “For exactly the same.”

Conversation flows quietly, until eventually they’re just sitting in silence. Selfishly, Suki wishes she could stay here with him forever, but then she remembers everyone else, outside, waiting. “I’ll see you once I’ve crossed, Sokka.” Remembering the customs of the Water Tribes, Suki lays a cool hand on Sokka’s forehead. “May Yue and La guide you to with peace and serenity to whatever life you’re meant to live next. Spirits be with you.”

“And with your as well.” Sokka’s reply is the customary reply of his people, but there’s a look in his eye that he gets when he’s trying not to cry. “Can you grab Zuko for me?”

With a kiss to his forehead, she leaves the room. Glancing behind her one last time, she takes him in like that. Beaten and battered and bruised, it’s hard to see the fifteen-year-old boy she’d met so many years ago. But she can see him, underneath it all, invincible and fierce, funny and full of perseverance. Her heart twists as she closes the door behind her.

  
  


Suki doesn’t know what he says to Suyin, but she’s crying when she comes back into the room where everyone except her mother and Katara are. Not for the first time, Suki wonders if Suyin knows of her lineage. Judging by how inconsolable she is, Suki would wager that she does.

When Suyin doesn’t tell anyone to go see him, Suki realizes it’s down to the last two. Getting up from Kya’s side, Suki takes a walk down the hallway. She finds Toph still in her chair, Katara’s empty. “Hey.” Suki sits down next to her friend.

Toph’s hair has been pulled out of its bun, gray locks tumbling down like a curtain on either side of her face. “Hey.” There’s a look on Toph’s face, as if she’s being haunted by someone who hasn’t yet passed. “I wish I’d told him more often.” The omission seems to startle Toph.

“Shush with that talk.” Suki’s response is automatic, “He knows, and he’ll know even beyond his last breath.”

“Will he, though?” Toph’s expression becomes less shuttered, revealing worry and grief and heartbreak and always a little pride. “I’m pathetic. I love him with the entirety of my soul, and rarely ever told him.”

Suki rolls her eyes. Toph’s always been more self-deprecating than she’s lead people to believe. “No offense, Toph, but anyone can tell you love him. They just have to look.” Suki can hear the faint sounds of Katara and Sokka’s conversation. She does her best not to eavesdrop. “Life’s too short to worry about the things we got wrong. You might have not said it very often, but your actions spoke volumes. Sokka knows, you know, and I know, that you’ll love him to the end. And vice versa.”

“I don’t want to live without him.” Toph’s voice is so small that she doesn’t even sound like herself. This wild personality, big and confident and always so honest, reduced to a whisper. “I’m… I’m not ready to live without him.”

To be quite frank, Suki isn’t sure what to say to that. Katara saves her from responding. The door opens and she stumbles out, not bothering to close it as she falls into Suki’s waiting arms, who’s stood to catch her. Toph hesitates for all but a moment, until Sokka’s voice reaches their ears. “Come here, beautiful.” He says, and just for a moment, Suki can see the young woman inside Toph beaming.

The door shuts with a finality. Toph is the last goodbye.

Suki and Katara sit quietly, both curious even in their grief to hear what the two are talking about. Not even Katara knows much about Toph and Sokka’s relationship. They had always kept it to themselves, from inconspicuous start to… now. Innocuous finish.

“I kept putting off moving back home.” Katara whispers, out of the blue. “If I had started the moving process quicker…”

Suki gives Katara an understanding look. “None of that, Katara. Spirits know this isn’t your fault. Do not trouble yourself with what could have been.” With a resigned sigh, Katara leans against Suki.

“Thank you.” She says. They lapse back into silence. In Sokka’s room, Suki can hear conversation. She turns her head towards the noise. It feels strange to try to listen in on something so personal, but there’s nothing Katara and Suki can say to each other right now. Nothing will make it easier.

Footsteps echo through the hallway. Looking up, they see Zuko striding towards them. He doesn’t speak, instead sitting down on the floor next to Suki’s chair, quiet.

“ _I can count the times I fell in love on one hand, and none compare to how peacefully and assuredly I fell in love with you.”_ Sokka’s voice carries through the cracks in the door. It breaks Suki’s heart. Again, she thinks of her wife, and the agony Toph is sure to be in. That they are _both_ in. Katara shifts, wiping a tear from under her eye. _“I’m sorry.”_

“ _Don’t apologize.”_ Whatever Toph says next is indiscernible. Suki catches Zuko leaning forward. _Nosy ass,_ she thinks. If it were a moment any less grave, Suki would have teased him mercilessly. _“… You’re the most irritating person I’ve ever met, but I love you with my entire being and I don’t… I can’t… you can’t die…”_

“She has to let him go.” Zuko finally breaks the silence. “She has to let him pass on.” Katara and Suki don’t say anything. Their silence is agreement enough.

Whatever the couple converses about is lost to Suki’s ears. It isn’t until the earth trembles, not much, but just enough to alert her, that Suki tunes back in to find she can once again hear the conversation.

Toph’s voice is unimaginably gentle – Suki’s surprised she can hear it. _“I can’t see, but when I think of love, I think of your voice, I think of how you held me, and all that you’d do for me_ _and the girls_ _. While people describe love using emotions or objects, I think of you instead. Always and_ _unashamedly, you.”_

Suki glances down the hallway to find that the rest of the crew is walking towards them, as if sensing the hour. Toph’s voice is lost in the footsteps of their family. After they’ve settled across from the door, silence falls again on the compound.

“ _For once, I don’t feel very brave.”_ Toph’s voice. _“But I guess that doesn’t change what we have to do.”_

Suki can practically see Sokka’s expression. The adoration in his voice is palpable. _“In this life and the ones that follow, I love you. Time is nothing.”_

She can see the embarrassment on the children’s faces at listening to such a private conversation. Tenzin clears his throat and pulls on his collar. Though it feels like hours, it’s only ten minutes later when Toph opens the door. It’s the second time in her life that Suki’s seen her cry, and the first time in adulthood. Katara rushes into the room, to her brother’s side, hands trembling to halt as she stops herself from trying to bring him back to a life that has already rejected him.

Suki once heard that love knows not its depth until the hour of separation. As she takes in the sight of Toph and Katara, tortured in grief, she sees what love is. Painful, honest, selfless love. To love someone enough to let them pass on. It’s a sentiment Suki’s become very familiar with over the years. Knowing it doesn’t make it any easier.

Sokka smiles at his family. With one last, tumbling breath, he says, “I did pretty great, if I do say so myself.” Suki doesn’t have to be a bender to feel the exact moment the life leaves him. She grabs Ty Lee and holds her close.

It’s then that many things happen, in such quick succession that Suki can scarcely remember the order. The lights in the room go bright hot, and then burst entirely. Zuko turns away from the group. Suki can see his fingers trembling. Izumi tucks herself into his side. It’s then that Suki notices, in the midst of the chaos and through the two windows in the room, that the sun is rising. They’ve been up all night. Outside, she can hear waves crashing against the shore, loud and incessant and unforgiving. Katara and Kya let out what sounds to be a cross between an anguished scream and a grieving sob. Tenzin, ever the airbender, flees the room entirely, in a rush of wind so powerful it would have knocked Suki back against the wall, lest she and Ty Lee had not grounded themselves in preparation.

The earth trembles under them. Rocks fall apart as Suki fights to regain her footing. Glancing across at Bumi, she finds him already attempting to console his mother and sister. Outside, the wind and waves howl. With urgency, Suki grips Toph’s shoulders, breathing deeply into her nose and steadily out of her mouth. It’s a silent request. Toph, with much struggle, complies, following Suki’s breathing pattern. Whatever Ty Lee’s telling Lin must be working, because slowly, the Beifongs quiet and the quaking stops. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Bataar practically cradling Suyin in his arms. As Suki stares at Toph and breathes, she finds that, simply put, the woman looks as if she’s lost herself. Even her eyes, unfocused as usual, look a little more hazy. Far removed.

Zuko kisses his daughter’s forehead in a silent thank you, just as the winds die down. Someone must have gotten to Tenzin. Outside the window, Suki sees the waves receding in the morning sun.

It’s a new day. Sokka isn’t in it.

“I need to break the news to everyone.” Katara says, always thinking ahead.

Lin is quick to speak. “Let me do it for Republic City. You shouldn’t have to do it all.”

Izumi nods, “I will handle things in the Fire Nation.”

“Tomorrow.” Suki doesn’t see Bumi give commands often, but when he speaks, he leaves no room for arguments. “Today, we rest.”

The air acolytes come in, gently ushering everyone out as they prepare Sokka’s body for a Southern Water Tribe burial. As Suki and the rest leave the room, Katara and Toph are left, looking like the war-trodden girls they were when they all first met.

She wonders if Sokka is there, standing beside them.

* * *

Years later, Suki thinks back on that day. On the private conversation she’d overheard. Suki is old, now. Older than when Mai passed, older than when Aang passed, and older still, than when Sokka passed. She thinks a lot these days, and she’d be lying if she said that the conversation heard between Toph and Sokka doesn’t haunt her memories. It haunts her most on a day like today.

She and Quinn are still standing in front of the gravestone when Lin and Suyin approach. They are too old for Suki to still think of them as kids, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t see the lost child in them at this moment. It doesn’t matter how old you are – everyone is left orphaned, eventually. Katara and Zuko haven’t left the grave either, staring at it as if they can’t believe she of all people, has beaten them to the other side.

“I always thought Toph would just straight up say _no.”_ Quinn admits.

Zuko lets out a choked laugh. “That makes two of us.”

“It makes me think of him.” Katara confesses. “I know I shouldn’t, but it does. As if Toph hurried the process just so she could see him again.”

Suyin gives Katara a look. “You think she still loved him?”

Lin raises a brow at her sister, “You think she _didn’t?_ We grew up with them, Su. They were obsessed with each other.”

“I always thought she’d just say no, too.” Suki admits. “But Toph _had_ been searching for enlightenment. Maybe she finally found it. For someone so loud and powerful, she could be so secretive.”

The group nods in agreement. One by one, each of them wanders over to where the rest of the family is waiting. Eventually, only Suyin remains. Suki decides to stand by for her. Quinn kisses her cheek and leaves, walking with Lin back towards the others.

Suyin sighs. “My parents did so much for me, and I’m just now noticing the half of it.”

“That's life.” Suki assures her, “Don’t feel bad. It happens to all of us.”

A breeze, strong as the ones Aang used to create on a hot summer day, blows across Suki’s skirts. “I just… I hope what Lin said is true. I know it’s naive, but to have parents that always loved each other is something I’d like to hold on to.” Suyin pulls on her sleeves.

“Oh, they did.” Suki hooks her arm through Suyin’s, gently and slowly leading her to the others. “You remember the funeral, and everything after. She stayed by his side until he was cast well into the sea. Every time we saw her afterwards, she’d always mention him. She wore that space rock he gave her until the very end.”

No one was there the night that Toph died. Suki wonders if in her enlightenment, Sokka had greeted her into the next life. She wonders when those two will reunite, whether in this lifetime or the next. And it _will_ be _when._ It is never a matter of _if._

Reaching their family, Suki squeezes Suyin’s hand. “She loved him the whole way. I am told, and I believe, that she loves him still.”

Suyin’s smile comes a little easier.

* * *

> “ _If I loved you less,  
> _ _I might be able to talk about it more.”_

_- **Jane Austen.**_


End file.
